BIC Statement on Racism
The Baylor Interdisciplinary Core offers the following statement on the current state of race relations and the protest following the death of George Floyd:
The Baylor Interdisciplinary Core joins the country in mourning the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. We realize that our time of mourning is not a time for silence. As we mourn, we pray for healing and reconciliation. We know that the lives of Black people matter.
We also know that the deaths of these three people, while an impetus for nationwide protests, are the latest entries into a history of systemic violence and structural violence against people of color in the United States. From the institution of slavery to Reconstruction to the era of lynching and Jim Crow to the violence endured by Black people during the Civil Rights Movement and the murders of Civil Rights leaders and continued violence against people of color in policing and other areas of life, we know that there is still much work to be done in recognizing that Black lives have not mattered as they should. We condemn all forms of racialized violence and the entrenched systems of racism that continue to produce injustice across the many communities that make up our country.
We realize that the violence of racism comes in many forms. Racism extends beyond excessive use of force and violence in policing and vigilante justice. We recognize that only through actively working against racism can we hope to build a community that recognizes the mission of Baylor University and a commitment to a transformative Christian education that our university seeks to provide. As a faculty and staff, we are committed to fostering an educational environment that recognizes equality, celebrates diversity, and that learns from people of all races and ethnicities. We commit ourselves to the work of seeing, affirming, and cultivating the intellectual, moral, and ethical capacities of all our students, staff, and faculty. We can only achieve these goals if we speak out against injustice and educate ourselves and our students against the evils of racism.
Black lives matter.